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April 24, 2013

NESN: Aceves's "Hobey" Is Cooking

In yet another of NESN's useless sideshows that constantly interfere with its ability to show every pitch of Red Sox games, here we have a glaring error. How could such a blatant misspelling get all the way to on-air without anyone noticing? It boggles the mind.

This, of course, is part and parcel of NESN's production. During the current Oakland series, camera angles in the first game were brutal. NESN showed the crowd in the bleachers on a routine fly to center - making viewers believe the ball was headed over the fence - then closing up on an outfielder when another well-hit ball actually did go over the fence. NESN continues to miss pitches - it's been a problem for more than a decade - because of replays that run too long or commercially-sponsored bits of nonsense like the Quote Of The Day. And now we learn that the people in charge of on-screen graphics cannot spell.

Jere has long noted NESN's chronic unprofessionalism. Just this year, he has pointed out that NESN misspelled Lou Piniella's name on Opening Day, posted the score as 6-1 en route to a 13-0 Red Sox win, and misspelled "Buchholz". (Maybe I should give NESN a pass on that one, since Clay has been part of the team for only seven years.) Last season, they continually misspelled Vicente Padilla's first name.

4 comments:

Is this becoming common practice on broadcosts from other stations covering local sports teams? Hobbies, shoe size, favorite watch maker?

Maybe the reason NESN viewership continues to decline is because the audience grows tired of these "extras" that have nothing to do with the game itself. The "pink hats" are gone, so why not return to the basics of a good broadcast, i.e., calling the game?

Obviously, when the team is playing well, viewership is high. When they play poorly, viewership goes down.